


Strawberries

by koalathebear



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-24 00:40:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/933081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Raleigh brings Mako strawberries, procured from the black market that like many other illicit activities, flourishes in Hong Kong despite the shortages brought about by the protracted Kaiju War. "</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strawberries

**Author's Note:**

> Just a bit of fluff-set after the Breach is sealed. I'm still trying to get a handle on these characters that I love so much ... I really hate third person, present tense, but that's how this fic played out in my head, so that's what I've gone with.

Raleigh brings Mako strawberries, procured from the black market that like many other illicit activities, flourishes in Hong Kong despite the shortages brought about by the protracted Kaiju War.

Mako doesn’t ask him why or how he knows … The strange thing is that until she finds herself staring from his grinning face down at the small basket of deep red, extremely expensive berries, she had no idea how much she had been missing them – that it had been many years since she has tasted a strawberry.

She wonders in which one of her many childhood memories he glimpsed her eating strawberries. 

People always assume that because of the Drift, they must know everything about each other. To a certain extent it's true, but it's more that the fragmented glimpses into the mind and memories of another give them unparalleled insight and understanding.

Even though they have not Drifted together since the day the Breach was sealed, the awareness and connection remains unchanged – if anything, they have become even closer. Conversations that once might have been stilted and halting have become frank and revealing. There is no need for artifice or dissembling – in fact, it's just not possible anymore.

Even though both are cautious to act upon their feelings, they make no attempt to hide their feelings from one another.

"They're strawberries, Mako – they don't hold the answers to the universe in them. No need to stare at them like that," Raleigh tells her, a smile curving his firm mouth as he drops down onto her bunk beside her. She's sitting cross-legged on her bunk, folders and papers beside her as she diligently reads the paperwork that both of them are supposed to be churning through.

Raleigh's comfortable and at ease beside her, his long limbs sprawled out carelessly as if he belongs there – which he does. His head is near her knee as he looks up at her with his slow and lazy smile.

Both are still at the Hong Kong Shatterdome which for the present, remains the primary base of operations of the Jaeger II Project although there is talk of relocating the primary base to Sydney, Australia some time soon. If it moves to Australia, they'll both move there as well – together. 

Although Operational Pitfall has sealed the Breach, even without the knowledge gleaned by Newton and Hermann, the world knows that the Precursors will find another way to reach Earth. There is no doubt that that the kaiju will return, whether through another breach in the ocean floor or other means. The nations of the world are not only rebuilding the destroyed cities of the world – they are also rebuilding the Jaeger Project, constructing better, faster Jaeger designed to be able to fight category 5 kaiju and worse. The failure of the first Jaeger Project was that while the kaiju learned and adapted, humans did not. The world is determined that such a mistake will not be repeated.

As the Mark 6 series are being designed and developed, Raleigh, Mako and Marshall Hansen are critical to Jaeger development, providing input and feedback into ways to enhance fighting ability and minimise loss of human life. 

To the extent possible, Hansen shields his pilots from the probing gaze of the public, giving them time to recuperate and heal. He knows how important they are and he puts his own grief on hold as he allows them to have time and privacy even though the world clamours for access to its heroes.

As Raleigh looks up at her with his boyish smile, Mako's fingers slide through his dark blond hair without being conscious of what she is doing, even as he rolls towards her to press a kiss to the inside of her wrist. Touch. Closeness. They are comrades in arms. More than friends but not yet lovers. 

Neither wants to force the relationship. There is no hurry – sealing the Breach has given them a future that was not previously possible and they want to cherish their new gift. 

Reaching out, Raleigh holds a strawberry to Mako's full lips and she bites into it slowly, trying not to make a mess. The berry is sweet and tart, the taste familiar and strange and she laughs as some of the red juice trickles down her chin.

Raleigh pulls her down beside him, his lips lingering on her chin teasingly, his tongue licking the sweet juice away even as he covers her mouth with his and tastes the lingering flavour of the strawberry that she has just eaten.

"There are more in the basket", she points out, even as her lips cling to his and she slides her hands beneath his t-shirt to touch his warm skin.

"It tastes way better on you," he insists, his tongue licking the corner of her mouth, then sinking his teeth lightly into her full lower lip before he kisses her again. His eyes are closed as he breathes in her scent and allows himself to be lost in her softness.

She reaches out to pluck another strawberry from the basket and holds it to his firm mouth, grinning playfully as his white teeth bite into it quickly, watching him chew and swallow. Then it's her turn to taste the sweetness in his mouth and share the tartness of a fruit she has not tasted since she was a small child.

"This is not an efficient way to eat," she comments as he reaches out to put the basket to the side. He pulls her against him and she curls into his lean, hard body willingly. 

"Am I interrupting your work?" he asks her unrepentantly, staring at the papers around them. He reaches out and pushes them all aside so that there's more room for them.

"Yes – I am reading notes on the neural integration upgrades. You should be reading those, too," she points out even as she nuzzles her cheek against his.

"Hey I'm the one who suggested better protection around the Conn-Pod since the kaiju clearly know we're in there," he pointed out.

"Good work," she praises him with a smile in her eyes, reaching up her hand to touch his cheek. He turns his head so that he can press a kiss into the palm of her hand.

"How are you holding up?" he asks her, his blue eyes suddenly serious. It hasn't been easy for either of them.

In the days that followed Operation Pitfall, it didn't take a neural connection to know of the grief that Mako was experiencing. Pentecost's death was raw and painful and Raleigh never tried to say anything to make it better – the usual platitudes felt woefully inadequate. Instead, he had held her and comforted her when the tears fell.

They didn't sleep alone anymore. He couldn't remember if he had been the first to go to her room or she to his. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that lying side by side felt right, as did her head lay against his chest with his fingers tangling in her hair as they spoke of everything and nothing.

"Do you think your family would have approved of me?" he asks her one day as they are sitting and watching Newton and Hermann in one of their countless arguments – the posturing and the entertaining ranting.

"I don't know," she confesses honestly. "They were very … old-fashioned," she says with a wry smile. "But I like to think that they would be pleased to see me happy."

"You're happy, Mako?" Raleigh asks her, a wondering smile on his face.

She leans her head against his shoulder. "Of course – there's a dissected kaiju brain over there, two men are shouting at each other loudly … and you are here holding my hand."

His hand tightens over hers at that and he traces the smooth curve of her cheek with his fingertip, marvelling yet again at how silken and smooth it is.

Now, as they lie on her bunk now, scattered papers around them she asks him why he is smiling.

"Just wondering if you're still happy ..."

"Now?" she asks him.

He waves his hand around vaguely. "You. Me. Us … here .. this thing we have … generally," he says inarticulately.

"I'm happy," she assures him and their kiss is an exchange of unspoken promises.


End file.
